COMING UP
The Stanford University women's lacrosse team travels to Nashville, TN this weekend for match ups with No. 6 ranked Duke on Saturday and No. 19 ranked Vanderbilt on Monday. The Cardinal will be looking for the program's first ever win over the Blue Devils, as Duke has posted a 2-0 mark against Stanford. The Cardinal are 1-2 all-time against Vanderbilt, including a narrow 6-5 Commodore win last year.

LAST WEEK
Stanford closed out a season-high four-game home stand and improved to 5-2 with a pair of victories at Maloney Field over the weekend. Juniors Sarah Bach and Megan Burker each scored four goals in Friday's win over Colgate, and Ariana Parasco had the first two-goal game of her collegiate career to lead the Cardinal to a 12-7 win. Freshmen Megan McClain and Daphne Patterson both scored two goals to lift Stanford to an 8-4 victory over Cornell on Saturday evening. The win marked the first time in six tries that the Cardinal has defeated the Big Red. Cornell got on the board first with a goal at the 18:40 mark, but Stanford reeled off four straight goals to take control of the game and cruise to the win. Laura Shane made 11 saves in the cage on Friday, and collected another 10 saves in the win over Cornell on Saturday to cap an outstanding weekend.

SCOUTING THIS WEEK'S OPPOSITION
Duke enters the weekend with a 6-2 record and a No. 6 ranking in the IWLCA coaches poll. The Blue Devils handed then-No. 3 ranked Georgetown a 10-3 defeat last Saturday, and the lone Duke defeats have come against Princeton and North Carolina. Junior Katie Christ has scored 27 goals and assisted on eight other scores, while sophomore Kristin Waagbo has scored 21 goals so far this season for the Blue Devils. Vanderbilt is coming off of a pair of losses at home last weekend, as the Commodores fell to Hofstra and Johns Hopkins to slip to 2-3 on the season. The No. 19 ranked squad have been led by junior Kate Hickman's eleven goals and sophomore Kendall Thrift's eight assists throughout the early part of the year. Vanderbilt's two wins have come against Yale and Notre Dame.

SHANE WITH THE SAVE
Freshman goalkeeper Laura Shane has been nothing short of amazing in net for the Cardinal this season. The Baltimore native made 58 saves during Stanford's four-game home stand, including a career-high 20 saves against UConn on March 4th, which ranks as the second-highest single game total in program history. She made 17 saves against Georgetown in the deBeer East/West Challenge, and continued to lead the Cardinal defense last weekend. The freshman turned away 11 Colgate shots on Friday, and collected 10 saves against Cornell on Saturday. Shane has started all seven games for the Cardinal and has saved 80 shot attempts.

DYNAMIC DUO IN ATTACK
Juniors Sarah Bach and Megan Burker have carried the scoring load for the Cardinal in the attack so far this season. Bach leads the team with 17 goals and is tied with Burker for the team lead with 22 points. Burker has scored 12 goals of her own and has also assisted on 10 scores for the Cardinal. Burker is tied with senior Nina Pantano for second on the squad with her 12 goals. Both Bach and Burker hail from Baltimore, Maryland.

FANTASTIC FRESHMEN
A number of first-year players have already contributed to Stanford's success on the field this season. Daphne Patterson has contributed in the attack, ranking fourth on the team with eight goals. Ariana Parasco has scored three times including her first career two-goal game against Colgate, while Megan McClain posted her first multi-goal game against Cornell on Saturday. Laura Shane has proven to be an outstanding goalkeeper for Coach Uhlfelder's squad, and Bri Ned has started all seven games in the Cardinal defense.

FREE-POSITION PROWESS
Stanford has converted on nearly half of the team's free position opportunities this season, scoring 16 free position goals in 33 shot attempts. Junior Sarah Bach is 4-for-7 on free position shots, while senior Kelsey Twist is 3-for-8. The team scored four free position goals against Cornell, going 4-for-7 on free position shots.

Sarah Bach NAMED MPSF PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior Sarah Bach was named as the first MPSF Player of the Week for 2005 after leading the Cardinal to three MPSF conference wins to open the season. In Stanford's 14-5 win over Saint Mary's, the attacker paced all scorers with five goals and an assist on eight shots. The five goals and six points marked a career-high for the junior. Bach followed up the performance with a pair of goals on just three shots in Stanford's 11-4 win over UC Davis. In the Cardinal's season-opening win over Oregon, Bach scored four goals to lead Stanford to a 19-6 victory.

Kelsey Twist GARNERS NATIONAL HONORS
Senior Kelsey Twist earned a pair of national honors after the first week of the season, receiving honorable mention Player of the Week recognition from both Inside Lacrosse Magazine and womenslacrosse.com. In the Cardinal wins over Saint Mary's and UC Davis, Twist tallied four goals and added seven assists as the team improved to 3-0 to start the season. The senior scored two goals and recorded two assists against the Gaels, and scored twice with a career-high five assists against UC Davis. The five assists broke the Stanford single-game assist mark of four, set by Hedy Born during the 2000 season.

STANFORD'S UHLFELDER HONORED
Stanford University women's lacrosse head coach Michele Uhlfelder earned numerous accolades following the 2004 season. In addition to being named as the MPSF Co-Coach of the Year, she was also the recipient of the prestigious Beth Allen Award last May. The Allen Award is presented annually to a member of the US Lacrosse Women's Division who participates in the National Championship Division A at the National Tournament. Uhlfelder became the award's first recipient from the Pacific Region, and the only winner to represent the west in the history of the award. In November, Uhlfelder was named as a Distinguished Alumnus at her alma mater in Pikesville, Maryland, becoming the honor's 14th recipient among world-wide political figures, doctors, artists, and athletes.

THE UHLFELDER FILEMichele Uhlfelder, entering her fifth season as the head coach at Stanford, has been a pioneer for the sport of lacrosse. In 2001, under Uhlfelder's guidance, Stanford became the first west coast university to ever garner a top 20 national ranking. Uhlfelder has built the Cardinal program into a top 20 team and has Stanford on the brink of earning its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid. The Baltimore, MD native was also recently honored by being inducted into the Greater Baltimore Chapter of U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame. As a player, Uhlfelder has participated in the game at the highest collegiate and international levels. She is a two-time member of the USA Women's National Team (1997, 2001) and was a key player on the 2001 U.S. squad that won a gold medal at the World Cup. Uhlfelder is still very much involved with the U.S. Lacrosse as she was chosen as a selector for the U-19 National team in 2003. She has also served as a coach at US Development camps from 2001-03.